Donna Ward/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- Kirstie Alley is defending her friend Tom Cruise against Vanity Fair's claims that The Church of Scientology devised "a top-secret process" of auditioning actresses to play the real-life role of his girlfriend.

"I think whenever you have articles written that are third and fourth parties' opinions -- it's like the game Gossip and you don't get the truth -- I think that a magazine of that caliber should have interviewed him, and then they would get the truth," Alley told Entertainment Tonight during New York Fashion Week.

In the October issue of Vanity Fair, special correspondent Maureen Orth reports that Nazanin Boniadi was selected from a group of Scientologist actresses to play the role of Cruise's girlfriend. Orth, who interviewed "several sources," claims that the entire arrangement was headed by Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology chief David Miscavige.

"I think that probably all religions sound bizarre to the people who are not the practitioners of them," Alley said, adding, "To me it's so normal, and probably 90 percent of the crazy stuff I hear isn't true."

Alley is set to compete on the upcoming Dancing with the Stars: All Stars.

A rep for Cruise told ABC News in a statement: "Lies in a different font are still lies -- designed to sell magazines."

The Church of Scientology denies to the magazine that there was any such recruiting project and did not respond to ABC News' request for a statement.

Boniadi, 32, went on to appear in the ABC soap General Hospital and the 2010 superhero film Iron Man. She is now a spokesperson for Amnesty International and no longer involved with Scientology, according to the magazine.

Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Cruise earlier this year after six years of marriage.